Research
We explore how adult education can be made inclusive, digital and effective.
Services
Digital tools, specialist portals and data – for teachers, researchers, students and interested parties.
Institute
We offer research, transfer and infrastructure for lifelong learning.
In PIAAC the assessed basic skill problem solving in technology-rich environments connects two different competences: problem solving and dealing with media. Based on a closer examination of this construct and related concepts the comparison of the terms shows overlaps as well as differences which also come into effect in their operationalization. A comparative analysis of the PIAAC instruments with instruments to assess media literacy, media competence or digital competence illustrates the dif…
Based on the background of selective access to further education institutions and the relevance of intercultural understanding and opening, the focus on transition processes within further education institutions will provide benefits for research and development in further education. Results from a qualitative study that was part of the LIQ project will be presented. The analysis of the interviews could be used to highlight diverse and complex aspects that influence the transition from target g…
The research memorandum for adult and continuing education (2000) focuses systematically on main research areas and contributes significantly to the systematization of the research landscape, the enhancement of possible collaborations and the provision of an overview of research achievements in the discipline for research sponsors as well as the public. Since 2007, adult educational research projects can be entered in a data base in accordance with the memorandum systematic. Acknowledging that …
International stimuli. More than 25 years of literacy and basic education A look back at the history of literacy discussions as a debate starting in the 1970s and heavily influenced by international organisations. The urgency of the subject is demonstrated at the start by international figures on the extent of illiteracy. The author sees today’s questions and issues as rooted in the 1980s and 1990s; in his overview of the German government's current funding focus he points out that there is…
"Further education for all" as a theory problem On pedagogy and its partial areas The policy metaphor "further education for all" poses a challenge for further education processes in adult education and the special education. It puts aspects of disability and disadvantage from the edge into the centre of the theory problems. The question is how further education and special education (can) deal with the altered public problem horizon. It is analysed how the two pedagogical partial areas cho…
Ehses, Christiane; Zech, Rainer: Good organisation – a contribution to the self-conception of the adult education profession Quality standards were found on the empirical basis of analysis of consultancy cases as well as group discussions with heads and consultants of adult education organisations. These quality standards can be the precondition for a comparability of organisations and they can also be quality standards for their organisation’s evaluation by internal or external evaluators a…
Within the framework of a four-year project (2015-2018) supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and des ESF, among others, the competencies and the orientations guiding the practice of validation personnel in adult education are inquired. While most of the existing research concentrates on competency validation arrangements and instruments, the present research uses a qualitative research design to look at the actors and their practice from the perspective …
The concept of self-optimisation is closely linked to discourses on lifelong learning and has been discussed in adult education research for some time. The talk about selfoptimisation is mostly articulated as a critique or critical analysis, appears as almost self-evident and thus gets caught up in the pull of normalisation. The established problematisation of self-optimisation is therefore also subjected to problematization in this paper in an attempt to reopen the thinking of the problem. Th…
Adult education is a field that is strongly shaped by tensions between scientific and political demands. The development of competencies as well as the idea of continuing to learn throughout the whole life are topics that have been debated in science and policy for many years and are still of great importance today. This dissertation deals with the relationship between science and European education policy in adult education by analyzing scientific journal articles and political documents from …
The article deals with the question how learning is made possible in time and space in university continuing education. The analysis focuses on the phases of on-site study and self-study, which are regarded as two forms of dealing with time and space in university continuing education. Both formats present specific challenges for the students, showing that the quality of learning time and learning spaces plays a key role in participation. In addition, times and places for on-site study and self…